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La Serna girls water polo needs OT to get past La Habra in CIF opener

Number 14, Hill of La Serna blocks a La Habra player number 12. La Habra played against La Serna in a Division 4 game of girls water polo, on Thursday night February 20, 2014 in Fullerton, Calif.
Correspondent Photo by: William Camargo

La Serna player 4, Rodriguez passes the ball to another player on her team. La Habra played against La Serna in a Division 4 game of girls water polo, on Thursday night February 20, 2014 in Fullerton, Calif.
Correspondent Photo by: William Camargo

FULLERTON – Thursday night’s CIF-SS Division 5 girls water polo playoff match between La Serna High and La Habra was so competitive and so entertaining, it took overtime to decide the winner.

La Serna’s Katie Hill scored with a hard shot in the first three-minute OT period and Carissa Perez added another from the perimeter in the second OT, leading the host Lancers to an 8-6 first-round playoff victory at Fullerton College. Perez scored four goals to lead La Serna, Bella Villa added two and goalie Jacqui Verdugo was strong in the cage all game.

The Lancers let an early 3-1 lead slip away in the second quarter with some silly exclusions, and they trailed 4-3 at halftime. But they held the Highlanders to one goal in the run of play in the second half.

“We settled down a little bit, and really focused on not reaching and playing good defense,” said La Serna coach Erin Verstegen.

The Lancers also did a good job of limiting La Habra’s Gabbi Garcia. She scored the Highlanders’ first goal of the game, tying it at 1-1, but was held the rest of the game to just a pair of 5-meter penalty shots. Garcia wasn’t in the lineup when the teams met at the Villa Park Tournament in December, a 12-6 Lancers victory.

“We knew she was the one to watch,” Verstegen said.

La Serna got back in the game in the third quarter with a 6-on-5 goal from Perez and a lob to the far post by Villa that just eluded the grasp of La Habra goalie Maddie Garcia. In the fourth quarter, Villa gave the Lancers a 6-5 lead when her shot was deflected into the goal, but Garcia’s second 5-meter shot of the game tied it at 6 with 1:28 left and forced OT.

In overtime, Hill scored her only goal of the game with a hard shot from the left of the cage. La Serna had missed with several lob attempts earlier in the game, and the players were told by the coaching staff to let the ball fly.

“Our objective against the goalie was to put fastballs on the cage,” said Verstegen, “because she can block the lob.”

Garcia’s three goals led the Highlanders, and Raney Remme, Cheyenne Trigueros and Danielle Van Hoogmoed each scored once.

“We played the best we played all season in this game,” said La Habra coach Courtney Robertson. “I was encouraged to see them play the way they did. … I couldn’t be prouder.”